1. Field of the Invention
Today""s commercial buildings use hangers suspended by rods from the underside of the floor above to run pipes, electrical cables, HVAC ducts, communication lines, etc. A seismic brace is used in buildings to prevent adverse sway or movement in the event of an earthquake. Those braces keep the various independent elements of such suspended items within a building intact during an earthquake. Without seismic braces, the independent elements, like pipe hangers, for example, will move independently. This independent movement can result in the pipes suspended in these hangers to break away from their installed positions causing damage or at least inoperable conditions.
2. Description of Prior Art
Various types of seismic braces are in current use, each having multiple parts or requiring various degrees of effort and time to install. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,218 shows a one piece seismic brace having a first channel iron that connects to a building element hinged to a second channel iron which attaches to the item supported. This brace takes considerable time to install because the fastener of the supported element must be completely undone to attach this brace.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,317 shows a brace for a hanger for pipes, electrical cables or the like. The hanger is suspended from a series of rods attached to the overhead floor. This brace uses a separate detached interlock element so that the brace may be attached to the rod without completely removing a hanger from its supporting rod. The interlock element must mate with the rod connecting end in a precise manner to function correctly. Incorrect use of the detached interlock piece, use of an incorrectly sized interlock piece, or simply not using it, will result in insufficient restraint, or the brace coming loose during earthquake induced movement.
None of the prior art seismic braces achieve or fulfill the purpose of the present invention in providing a one piece seismic brace with an integral, built-in interlock structure that does not require disconnecting the hanger from its support rod to attach the brace to the rod.
The present invention relates to a one piece brace used to brace a hanging support system for utility and service lines to prevent or eliminate the oscillations that develop in such hanging systems when subjected to earthquakes or various types of natural or man-made vibrations. The one piece brace has a brace arm which is bent at a 45xc2x0 angle to form a base bracket. A locking bracket is hinged to the base bracket at either end. The base bracket part of the brace arm and the locking bracket are slotted. The slots extend from an edge of the bracket. When the locking bracket overlays the base bracket, the slots capture a vertical support rod completely. The one piece brace of the present invention attaches to an already installed system without disassembly of the hangar. Due to the unitized construction of the bracket, ease of assembly, inability to lose a detached piece and correct connection of the brace to the rod, are provided.